The rise and fall of robots.txt

For over 30 years, a simple text file known as robots.txt has served as an informal agreement among web pioneers, ensuring mutual respect and cooperative development of the internet. Found at the root of a website, this file allows website owners to specify which parts of their site can be accessed by various web crawlers, such as search engines and archival services. However, the rise of AI has challenged this system, as companies use web data to train AI models without necessarily providing reciprocal benefits.

Initially, robots.txt was focused on managing search engines, facilitating a symbiotic relationship where search engines indexed websites and directed traffic back to them. Yet, AI's insatiable demand for data has disrupted this balance, with some feeling that AI takes without giving back. The rapid advancement and financial incentives in AI have left many website owners struggling to keep pace with the changes.

Martijn Koster and other web administrators developed the Robots Exclusion Protocol in 1994, which asked developers to list which web crawlers could not access their sites. This protocol was quickly adopted as a standard, despite not being legally binding. It was based on the principle of goodwill and cooperation, rather than legal or technical enforcement.

The internet landscape has vastly changed since then, with companies like Google, Microsoft, and the Internet Archive using web crawlers for various purposes, including indexing the web and storing pages for posterity. The emergence of AI has led to a reevaluation of data access, as companies like OpenAI crawl the web to train models like ChatGPT. This has prompted some websites to reconsider who should have access to their data, with platforms like Medium and the BBC blocking AI crawlers to protect their content.

The Robots Exclusion Protocol assumes by default that most robots are benign, but this has been put into question as AI evolves. The protocol's reliance on the goodwill of all parties involved is being tested, as it is not a legal document and can be ignored without significant legal repercussions. Some argue that stronger, more formalized controls are needed to manage web crawlers in the face of new, unregulated use cases.

As AI reshapes the internet, the once-sufficient governance provided by a plain-text file may no longer be adequate. The challenge now is to find a balance that allows for the benefits of AI while protecting the interests of content creators and website owners.

The original article: https://www.theverge.com/24067997/robots-txt-ai-text-file-web-crawlers-spiders